Witness alleges man who died was Tasered 4 times

CBC News
Tuesday October 16, 2007

An eyewitness with cellphone footage spoke out Monday night about what she saw at the Vancouver International Airport when a man was Tasered by RCMP and later died.

Sima Ashrafinia, who filmed the incident at the airport on her cellphone, told CBC News that RCMP officers stunned the man four times and handcuffed him after he fell on the floor.

"The third and fourth ones were at the same time," she said. "The officer at his right and the officer at his left, they Tasered him at the same time and he fell down on his right."

"As he fell down, four or five officers gathered around him and handcuffed him while he was on the floor," Ashrafinia said.

She also alleges she offered to tell the RCMP officers what she witnessed. One officer said, "I'll be with you in a few minutes," she said. But the officers did not take a statement from her, she alleges.

Ashrafinia said she never felt the man was a threat.

Meanwhile, RCMP speculated Monday the man may have had a rare condition known as excited delirium, though the coroner's office has not yet determined the cause of death. Richmond RCMP Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre said witnesses reported seeing the man, whose identity has not been released, sweating profusely and showing the whites of his eyes when he began violently tossing chairs and luggage inside the airport early Sunday.

Excited delirium is described as an agitated state, when a person experiences an irregular heartbeat then suddenly dies. It can happen to psychiatric patients and people using drugs such as cocaine.

Officers physically restrained the man and applied handcuffs, Lemaitre said.

"He was on his back and being combative and still fighting. Even though he had received what they call pulses, two pulses from Taser, he was still out of control," Lemaitre told CBC Newsworld on Monday morning.

Lemaitre denied links between the Taser jolts and the man's death, saying deaths are often not directly related to the stun gun but rather caused by some pre-existing medical condition or drug use.

The violent episode happened after the man passed through customs and picked up his luggage, police said. Witnesses reported the man yelled in what sounded like an Eastern European language and had arrived on an international flight.

The coroner's office is still performing toxicology and other tests, and has not yet released the cause of death. Police have identified the man, but are not releasing his name pending notification of family.

Lawyer calls for moratorium on Taser use
The death has renewed debate about the use of Tasers by police officers, with one Vancouver lawyer calling for a moratorium on the use of the weapons.

Cameron Ward said police typically blame deaths on medical conditions, and the coroner's office often comes to the same conclusion.

"My feeling is they're being overused. They're being used on people who are in medical or emotional distress and often there are tragic consequences," said Ward.

Lemaitre said in an earlier interview that police considered using pepper spray but it would have affected other people in the airport. He also said officers decided against using batons to subdue the man because of how it would have looked to the public.

Of the 16 stun gun-related deaths in Canada in the past four years, six have occurred in British Columbia.